Previously, I worked at Google on advertising, Earth, Maps, spaceflight, and Fusion Tables. I left Google in 2008 to join the Anderson Ranch Art Foundation.

I sometimes contribute to The Atlantic and am occasionally useful to the Guanacaste Dry Forest Conservation Fund, the Área de Conservación Guanacaste, and the Wellcome Collection. I am on the executive board of the food access non-profit Rethink Food and the advisory board of the hospitality consultancy Oyster Sunday.

Research

I study how individuals, groups, organisations, and communities can design themselves to be innovative and adaptable. Such adaptability is especially important and difficult when the external environment is uncertain. This research offers specific strategic and tactical recommendations across industries for leaders designing and managing innovative and adaptable teams and organizations.

In Spring 2020, Columbia University Press will publish The Uncertainty Mindset, a peer-reviewed book which uses examples from culinary R&D to explain how organizations can use intentional uncertainty to design themselves to be more innovative and adaptable to uncertainty. To request a review copy, click here.

Advance praise for The Uncertainty Mindset:

“Vaughn Tan spent long periods observing of some of the world’s most famous chefs at work in their prize-winning restaurants and tells his readers what they do and how they do it. A real contribution to our understanding of how experts combine artistic creation and business success.” — Howard S. Becker; author of Art Worlds.

“The Uncertainty Mindset takes a close look at the secret inner workings of some of the most innovative food R&D teams worldwide. It shows organizations in other industries how to redesign themselves to become more resilient, innovative, and adaptable—by simply changing how they think about the future.” — Amy C. Edmondson; Professor, Harvard Business School; author of The Fearless Organization.

“Chefs are responsible for some of today’s most novel innovations. Vaughn Tan goes behind the scenes to show how R&D is organized inside the world’s most famous kitchens, uncovering surprising lessons that have wide application. This is a provocative contribution to studies of culture and R&D.” — Walter W. Powell; Professor, Stanford University School of Education and Graduate School of Business.